Real Money

Stocks Come Down

Monday's run-up and more Middle East violence weigh on the averages.

Stocks slumped again Tuesday amid reports of violence in Iraq, surrendering much of their gains from Monday's rally. Wall Street continued to weigh the likelihood of a market correction, with the government's much anticipated employment report due out Friday.

The Dow closed down 86.66 points, or 0.8%, to 10,591.48; the S&P 500 lost 6.87 points, or 0.6%, to finish at 1149.10; and the Nasdaq was down 18.14 points, or 0.9%, to end at 2039.66.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange approached 1.5 billion shares, with decliners beating out advancers by 5 to 4. Some 1.9 billion shares changed hands on the Nasdaq, where decliners topped advancers by nearly 2 to 1.

Jay Suskind, head of institutional equity trading at Ryan Beck & Co., attributed Tuesday's selloff to profit-taking in the wake of Monday's run-up, combined with the prospect of higher interest rates down the road.

"I don't necessarily agree with that," Suskind said. "I think the market, in the long run, will benefit from rates moving higher, meaning the economy is growing faster and jobs are appearing and so forth, but I think today is just a trading type of pause with the excuse of higher rates."

John Hughes, an equity strategist at Shields & Co., said he has been waiting for a correction in the markets for weeks. "I think you've probably just about run your course as far as this rally should go, and we're looking for the markets to really pull back from these levels," he said. Hughes predicted that both the Dow and the S&P will shed 5% to 7% and the Nasdaq 10% before the bulls run again.

He added that Friday's monthly employment report from the government will dictate how things proceed in the short term. "This employment number on Friday could really be key in letting you know how it's going to shake out," he said.